What are you talking about? The picture's clear as a bell -- you really need to get your eyes checked, friend. Naw, we're just messin' with you -- we know this is some of the finest artwork Mr. Blurrycam has to offer -- but it's the first time we've seen the Verizon-branded Omnia in the wilds (notice the VZ Navigator and Visual Voice Mail icons on the screen) which makes it a notable find in our books. Our tipster tells us he's been told to expect the 5-megapixel, 8-gigabyte package in stores before the year's out, which makes that Incite look thoroughly less interesting, doesn't it?

[Thanks, anonymous tipster]

There's no need in reiterating, but South Korea has some drool-worthy handsets. Take the minty fresh Samsung SPH-W6050 for instance, with its magnificent 5-megapixel camera (with AutoFocus), OMNIA front design and 3-inch LCD with WVGA (800 x 480) resolution -- isn't that something worth grabbing a napkin over? Furthermore, it boasts a mobile TV tuner (DMB), haptic user interface and a microSD card slot. If only trips to Seoul were cheap and ₩800,000 ($575) was a drop in the bucket...

We know about most of these handsets, but it's always fun to get a few final views before they're officially announced and made available, isn't it? phoneArena has what must be the complete (or close to it) lineup from Samsung for the US market in the next few months all in one place, showing the a777 and a867 Eternity for AT&T, the Behold for T-Mobile, and the i770 Saga, i910 Omnia, and u810 Reknown for Verizon. New here is the R600 Hue II for Alltel, a boring-ass little flip that should be available in a handful of colors. There are a couple goodies in here -- the a867, i770, and i910 should all get some blood flowing, depending on how you roll. Which one's your favorite?

Steve Ballmer definitely gets around, last month taking a trip to the UK just to mock Android, this month heading all the way to Korea to praise Samsung's new T*Omnia. He says it's "at the forefront of this new generation of mobile devices," and digs how it "brings together communications, productivity, multimedia, and entertainment in a way that meets the needs of both consumers and mobile professionals." We think he's most fond of its operating system (WinMo 6.1), but must admit we're smitten by the handset too -- especially its 800 x 480 screen. That's more than twice the resolution of the older Omnia, which by the sounds of it will be released in the US sometime this month. Samsung didn't actually say which Omnia, but since it's the older one that's been FCC approved don't go holding your breath for WVGA goodness. Lucky Koreans, meanwhile, can expect the T*Omnia to start being served up by SK Telecom on November 20.

Like the i900 Omnia, eh? We sure did. Well here's its prettier, smarter cousin tagged the T*Omnia. For the most part, it's the same quad-band, WinMo 6.1 candybar with 7.2Mbps HSDPA data, WiFi, GPS, 5 megapixel cam, and nifty TouchWiz UI we've seen for months. But this hometown Korean version bumps the display to a WVGA, 800 x 480 pixels (up from 400 x 240) while slapping in a DMB digital television tuner to ensure it's non-Stateside status for eternity... at least with this specific configuration. Perhaps Verizon would be so kind as to make use of that display?

There's some ongoing debate as to whether Verizon's upcoming version of the Samsung Omnia, the predictably-named SCH-i910, would feature WiFi. In general, Verizon's historically just been about the least WiFi-friendly of the major US carriers, so prevailing logic had us believing (pessimists that we are) that the Omnia would rely on EV-DO alone to go about its high-speed data business, too. Ah, but wait -- there's this little matter of a WiFi Alliance certification proudly proclaiming the i910 as a "Phone, dual-mode (Wi-Fi and cellular)," which would suggest that there's an extra radio up in there somewhere. Of course, Verizon could go ahead and disable that circuitry in software before they drop it on a store shelf, but with that giant heart of gold of theirs, would they really sink so low as to disable it? (Don't answer that.)

[Thanks, Ari]

In case it wasn't already clear that the wireless industry was heading into a dark, cold winter of ridiculous product names, we present to you Verizon's latest batch: the Omnia, Saga, and Renown from Samsung, and the Touch Pro from HTC. Granted, the Touch Pro isn't ridiculous, and the Omnia we're sorta used to at this point, but as for these other two, we're not so sure. As we've mentioned, the Saga appears to be the go-to-market name for the rumored i770, and phoneArena now sports a nice, clear picture of exactly what the blue QWERTY WinMo phone with global roaming is going to look like. The u810 Renown will be the other piece in Verizon's global roaming puzzle, a flip with a 2-megapixel cam that had been previously pegged for a late-September release but has been pushed back for unknown reasons. The CDMA variant of the Omnia -- the i910 -- just popped onto our radar a couple weeks ago, and we now have official-looking photography of Verizon's WinMo-equipped jewel with a 5-megapixel camera, and 8GB of internal storage with microSD expansion. Finally, we suspect that throngs of Verizon loyalists are going to be thrilled to see a photo of a Big Red-branded Touch Pro, a phone that had been rumored to be coming to The Network for several months now with very little proof to show for it. All four of these monsters are currently slated for November, and with the holidays just around the corner, we bet Verizon would just love to hold to that plan.

And now a little bit of news out of our "straight out of left field" department: Verizon's apparently getting the Omnia. We've spent so long trying to will a North American HSDPA-equipped version of Samsung's WinMo superphone into existence that we totally failed to consider the possibility of an EV-DO-equipped version materializing first, and sure enough, Verizon's latest rebate form lists an Omnia. We suppose it's possible that this'll somehow be watered down from its international equivalent, but we hope both Samsung and Big Red are smart enough to launch an unfettered, honest-to-goodness CDMA translation of the mighty 5-megapixel original.

Separately, we noticed a Samsung Saga listed on there, did a little Googling, and Wirefly seems convinced that the long-rumored global WinMo QWERTY i770 is going to be called the "Saga." So yeah, that settles that.

[Thanks, Donald H.]

There was an awful lot of hullabaloo after an SGH-i907 passed the FCC a few weeks back that we might be dealing with an AT&T-branded Omnia in our midst, going off the logic that Samsungs destined for AT&T typically end with the number 7 and the original Omnia is dubbed the i900. More recent intel suggests that this is actually an Americanized i780, though, leaving everyone wondering whether the western hemisphere would ever see a version of Sammy's WinMo superphone equipped with the right 3G bands. The answer appears to be a tentative "yes," now that we have an i900L in the FCC's business featuring WiFi and WCDMA 850 / 1900. It's not a sure thing, clearly -- but if Samsung were to release a model to the North American market called "i900L" with no bearing to the i900 whatsoever, we'd seriously lose our cool.

If you're going to equip yourself with a phone as luxurious and feature-packed as Samsung's Omnia to line your pocket, you may as well go for broke, right? The so-called "Millionaire Pack" bundles the high-end WinMo set with a matching Bluetooth headset -- a WEP350, if you're curious -- and a leather travel case to keep your beloved handset safe and secure on the road. There's also an issue of "Millionaire" magazine in there and an entry to win a three-day trip to Moscow for November's Millionaire Fair, where flashing your non-diamond-studded Omnia is sure to impress essentially no one. The whole package runs a stout €699 (about $1,021), which realistically, plenty of hundredaires and thousandaires should be able to swing.

[Thanks, David]

phoneArena has cobbled together all the details it could dig up on a trio of Samsungs apparently destined for AT&T, and needless to say, we're not looking at your average anonymous midrange flips here (and kudos to that, by the way). First up is the A767 "Sangria," which apparently borrows the i620 and i640's style but drops Windows Mobile to turn it into a strictly consumer device that's targeted for launch in late October. Next up, the A867 (cutesy name unknown) sorta looks like the mighty Omnia from its FCC filing, but it probably isn't for a couple very good reason: first, the FCC filing makes no mention of WiFi, and second, Samsung's smartphones start with "i." Finally, that i907 Mirage -- you know, the one everyone thought (hoped) might actually be the Omnia -- is said to actually be AT&T's version of the i780, featuring Windows Mobile Professional, triband HSDPA, a 2-megapixel cam, and that optical mouse Samsung has been featuring on its higher-end devices as of late. Pretty exciting stuff, eh?

We're hearing that AT&T dealers are now being briefed on the upcoming Samsung i907 -- a phone that we'd like to believe will approximate the appearance and power of the i900 Omnia released overseas, though details are still slim on exactly what form its American cousin's going to take or what capabilities it'll offer. Whatever it is, though, current estimates have it available for order on October 7 as the "Mirage." In other words, yes, go ahead and kiss that Omnia name goodbye -- and really, "Mirage" seems like a perfectly fine name, as long as AT&T isn't trying to imply that it disappears as you get close to the launch date. More details on this one just as soon as we get 'em.

[Thanks, Bill]

Update: As we mentioned above, we're not sure exactly what the Mirage is -- so we wouldn't necessarily bet the farm on an Omnia clone here.

It looks like ASUS has more in store when it comes to touchscreen phones than that P552w we saw the other day. According to pictures leaked to the Mobile01 forums, the company is planning an Omnia-esque device that will feature a large (WQVGA or WVGA) touchscreen, a 5-megapixel camera, a trackball for non-touch navigation, and the predictable 3G radios / WiFi. Not much is known about the device at this point, though speculation is running rampant on the forum as to CPU specs and on-board memory. It's likely this will be at least competitive in comparison to recent Window Mobile devices we've seen of this variety, though nothing's certain till we get word from ASUS... which we're waiting patiently for, fellas.

[Via wmpoweruser]

No longer does Windows Mobile alone a capable smartphone make. The platform's core is as relevant, powerful, and well-supported as ever, but that's not the problem -- the real issue is that it's just plain hard to look at. The days of WinMo looking even remotely modern in its stock form are long gone, and top-tier manufacturers clearly recognize that; everyone from ASUS to HTC has taken matters into their own hands to craft custom skins that kill off as many of the ancient visuals as possible while still holding onto everything that makes Windows Mobile great.

Enter the Samsung i900 Omnia, a phone that submits to design direction forced upon the industry largely by the iPhone -- full touchscreen, no keyboard, you know the drill by now -- and does pretty much everything in its power to overcome WinMo's limitations to make it competitive in the year 2008. Did Sammy succeed? Read on.

Thanks to the good folks at Wireless Imports for the hookup!

The Windows Mobilicious i900 Omnia from Samsung definitely qualifies for the upper echelon of 2008's crop of smartphones, thanks in no small part to a 5 megapixel cam, capacitive touchscreen, and a UI that seems to do a bang-up job of concealing WinMo's ancient visuals. That's all well and good, but most of us don't live in a locale where the Omnia has launched on a carrier -- which is precisely why we should all be nice and jealous of our British friends righ about now. It seems the 16GB handset is now available through O2 over in those parts, and what's more, it's straight-up free if you sign up for a £35 (about $65) plan. Hey, American carriers, you guys paying attention here?